Armitstead eyeing Tour of Flanders success

British cyclist Lizzie Armitstead will set about fine tuning her preparations during the next fortnight as she targets success at the Tour of Flanders next month.

The 25-year-old has enjoyed a strong start to the season, winning the 132km Ronde van Drenthe in Hoogeveen, Netherlands, last weekend in a time of 3:51.03 hours.

Set as the opening race of the UCI World Cup series, the success bodes well for the road racer ahead of a busy couple of months.

The Tour of Flanders, another race forming part of the World Cup series, takes place on April 6 before the inaugural Women’s Tour, which starts in Eastern England on May 7.

And Armitstead, who won road race silver at London 2012, admitted the prestigious course around Flanders was to her liking.

“I’m building towards the Tour of Flanders at the moment. My form is currently pretty good and now it’s all about adding another five per cent before we get to Flanders in a couple of weeks’ time,” said Armitstead

“In terms of prestige it’s second only to the Olympics and the World Championships. It’s our biggest Classic race.

“For me, the short and steep that you get in Flanders are definitely the best. They are very much like the roads I train on when I’m back home in Yorkshire.”